The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1887-07-07
VALUE OF LIME ON LAND.

vi OLIS L OAASoo ~
the light, sandy lauds of the South is
owing to the want of lime, which is
an element needed in every soil ; and
if it is not there naturally it should be
applied. The difficulty with most of
our farmers is that lime is expensive,
and they are unable to obtain enough
to be of much benefit. But near lime
kilns the materirl may be had cheaply,
and in these parts farmers cannot do
better than apply it literally. 1t mat
tiers not much how it is got into the
soil, the main point is to get it there,
where it will gradually dissolve and
do it's own good work.
The addition of lime to land has
prevailed in nearly all we'll cultivated
countries for a. long period. In
Europe it's use is almost universal !;
and it's value is recognized here by
our ahlest farmers. In all soils it's
effects are to promote the decay of
vegetable matters and manures, and
also to actually contribute to the for
nation of the plants themselves. In
tenacious and clayey soils it also disin-
tegrates the particles, renders them
more easily worked and less liable to
be packed by the heat of the sum-.
While there is no element more
necessary to the fertility of soils, and
which should always be applied when
ever it can be had, still it must be borne
in mind that lime is not of itself a
fertilizer in the sense that guano is
it's effects are more mechanical. There
fore, too much dependence upon it
alone will lead to disappointment and
it is this that has given rise to the
proverb, "Lime enricheth the father,
but impoverished the son." Laid on
in repeated doses, and for a length of
time, the luxuriant crops. it causes at
first gradually fall off, until even
with the stimulant of larger doses the
soil refuses to respond.
A like result may be observed from
the frequent application of gypsum,
salt or potash. Their good effects
are apparent for a few years, but grad
ually renewed doses cease to act, and
the land seems weaker and becomes,
really less productive than at f,sG.
One reason Of this is that cropseAsract
nearly a dozen different elements from
the soil, lime being oneo of these, and
the one in which many soils are the
most deficient. When this deficiency
is supplied, tho crops become h%xuriant,
and the improvement is properly at
tributed to the lime. Bat the adj
dition Of this substance /aloqe, year
after year, will not keep up the pro-
duction, because the crops are extract
ing other substances also fpm the
soil, and unless these a y restond the
yields must diminish While lme is
essential to all lapd, the farmel who
hopes to make his fields producearge
crops by the continual applicati4 of
this one substance will be disappointed.
Any treatment that does not return t.
the soil all the substances that crpps(
extract from it, will ultimately makel
it poorer.
It is often observed in the South
that COW peas do not thrive on certain
sandy lands, but die out soon after
they have become four or six inches
high. This is owing to the want of
lime in the soil, and we have found, in
our own experience, that a liberal ap-
plication of lime to such land inva-
riably produced a good crop of peas.
This is a matter of Importance, as it
is only by the use of COW pea vines
that large tracts of such poor lands
can be brought up to fertility.-A. P.
F., in Farm and Fsresade.
Aiken, S. C.
lone of the chief functions of lime